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Case #467 Rating: 4.0 out of 5
Dog killed in road rage incident
Santa Clara, CA (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Feb 10, 2000
County: Santa Clara
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 2 files available
Defendant/Suspect: Andrew Douglas Burnett
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
In what has probably been the most publicized case of road-rage since the invention of the road, last year's February fender-bender turned into a national manhunt, after the unidentified driver of a black truck reached into the second car, grabbed Leo, a 5-pound dog, and threw him across 3 lanes of traffic.
Leo was struck by a car and died on the way to the emergency vet.
In the months that followed, both the sympathetic and the furious people of North America flooded Leo's owner, Sara McBurnett, with support and consolation. A reward fund had accumulated to the size of $121,000 (USD) as of last month.
Burnett has been charged with killing Leo, a 10-year-old Bichon Frisé, by throwing the dog into oncoming traffic on the evening of February 11, 2000.
The 27-year-old man pleaded not-guilty at his arraignment in Santa Clara superior court on Friday. The trial date has been set for June 4, 2001.
The police had actually been investigating Burnett as early as February 2000, after they received several anonymous emails alleging his involvement in the crime. The emails had been sent to a website maintained by Leo's owner and were subsequently forwarded to the San Jose police.
Meanwhile, Santa Clara police were holding Burnett in the county jail on an unrelated charge: stealing a company van as well as tools and equipment totaling $68,000 on December 8 of last year. He was arrested January 4 2000.
For this crime, he claimed that he had wrecked the van after swerving to avoid a deer, and that he had been too dazed to notify his employer, Pacific Bell.
Somewhere in there, he was also charged with lying to get out of a speeding ticket.
Once Santa Clara and San Jose police made the connection, they searched Burnett's residence and found a black SUV with Virginia license tags (three sets) matching the description of the vehicle involved in the February (Leo) incident.
The man now faces three years in prison for grand theft and three years in prison for felony animal cruelty.
Case UpdatesA San Jose jury took only 40 minutes yesterday to convict Andrew Douglas Burnett of flinging Leo the dog to his death in a road-rage case that sparked a global animal cruelty debate. The bespectacled former telephone repairman blinked and stared calmly as each member of the eight-woman, four-man jury confirmed the felony animal cruelty verdict that could send him to prison for up to three years.
Since Burnett snatched the small, fluffy bichon frise from its owner's car and hurled it into the street last year during a fender-bender beef, the case has fueled outrage by pet lovers who raised a $120,000 reward and criticism from others who carped about society's misplaced priorities. Even some law enforcement officials privately complained that the "Poodle Boy" case -- as they dubbed it -- had garnered far greater attention than the trial of a Central Valley serial killer suspected in 26 slayings. That case drew a mere $20,000 reward.
Yet, for Leo's owner, Sara McBurnett, the case was simply about ensuring that a "cowardly sadist" with a history of animal cruelty received justice. "He killed my baby right in front of me," said McBurnett, who hugged prosecutor Troy Benson and lead Santa Clara police investigator Phil Zaragoza after the verdict. "The public can ridicule me for considering Leo my child, I don't care. "I think Abraham Lincoln said you can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." By that standard, she said, Burnett is "just a coward. He's absolutely cruel. He shows no remorse for his act. He still thinks he did no wrong and that's the scary thing."
Burnett's fiancee, Jackie Figgins, stood by her man. "Andrew Burnett is a loving, very sweet man who would do anything for anybody. He's not at all the kind of demon person that Troy Benson and Phil Zaragoza make him out to be. "He feels very bad for Sara McBurnett, because the dog died," Figgins said. She noted that Burnett planned to tell "the true story" soon in a TV news interview. Defense attorney Marc Garcia confirmed that Burnett, 27, has already taped an interview with ABC's "PrimeTime" that is expected to air soon.
Jurors refused to discuss their decision, but animal protection groups called the verdict a victory that "raised awareness of animal cruelty for people all over the world," said Marcia Mayeda, outreach director for the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley. "I hope the attention this case got -- and the public outcry -- reminds everybody in law enforcement and the judiciary that the public takes animal cruelty very seriously," Mayeda said. Her group's board will meet with law enforcement officials tonight to decide which of the many witnesses in the case earned a portion of the $120,000 reward.
The verdict was a swift end to a roller coaster two-week trial, which began with the defense attorney's stunning admission during opening statements that Burnett was the man in the black SUV who had pulled Leo from his owner's lap after McBurnett tapped his bumper on a rainy night outside the San Jose airport. Garcia promised that Burnett would testify that he reflexively dropped Leo on the road after the dog bit him and the bichon then scampered across the road and under the wheels of a passing car. But Garcia scrapped calling Burnett to the stand after the judge ruled Thursday that if the defendant testified Leo's death was accidental, prosecutors could summon witnesses who would testify that, when Burnett was a Navy sentry six years ago, he clubbed to death a crippled dog that other sailors adopted as a mascot.
Garcia has faced criticism from some in the legal community for telling the jury he'd put his client on the stand before he heard the prosecution's case and for admitting Burnett was the man who grabbed the dog when witnesses failed to pick him from a photo lineup. But the attorney said it was a foregone conclusion that prosecutors could place Burnett at the scene, because the defendant's cousin testified he had picked her up at the airport that night. Garcia rejected as repugnant the "Monday-morning quarterbacking" of critics suggesting that he should have fueled jurors' doubts about whether Burnett was indeed Leo's killer. "To proffer a defense that would essentially have been a lie is not only unethical, it is something that is impermissible. I wouldn't do it," he said. Garcia said the defense was hampered by police investigators' discovery, after the trial began, of the earlier dog beating and the judge's ruling that prosecutors could raise the Puerto Rico incident if Burnett claimed he unintentionally dropped Leo when the dog bit him. Garcia said the judge's ruling "left a bad taste in our mouths," because the defense maintained the Navy incident was based on hearsay accounts and that no eyewitness had been found who had seen Burnett club the disabled stray dog to death.
Burnett remains in Santa Clara County jail on $455,000 bail in connection with the Leo case and unrelated charges, including the alleged theft of a Pacific Bell van and felony possession of a weapon -- a knifelike "shank" crafted from a sharpened plastic comb, which a correctional officer reportedly found under the mattress of Burnett's cell bunk. | Source: SF Gate News - June 20, 2001
Update posted on Jul 7, 2006 - 6:51PM |
Andrew Burnett received the maximum three-year prison sentence Friday from a judge who ignored a recommendation of probation. Burnett, 27, was convicted June 20 for the death of a fluffy white bichon frise named Leo.
Source: CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/12/national/main301135.shtml | | Update posted on Jan 8, 2003 - 5:43PM |
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